City council approves tax abatement for housing project

The Fairfield City Council passed a resolution Monday to provide a letter of support for the Louden Senior Housing Project, that would confirm its willingness to provide a 10-year tax abatement.

“Our guarantee of doing the 10-year tax abatement for the project is listed on their project as a city contribution,” said Mayor Ed Malloy, adding that the latter states that the city supports the project in its efforts to obtain State Historic Tax Credits and Workforce Housing Tax Credits.

The project is aimed at renovating the Broadway Building, which CBC Financial acquired several years ago.

The building would house 40-45 senior apartments.

“We have a need for senior and low-income housing,” Malloy said. “We would love to see this project developed because it’s an important historic building. I think it would help the area from an aesthetic point of view, using an existing building instead of developing in new green space. It would be a very positive project.”

David Humphreys, project manager of CBC Financial, told The Ledger in April that, his effort to win a $5 million low-income housing tax credit from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development failed.

City engineer Melanie Carlson called the grant “competitive,” but that the firm is looking for a successful approval this time.

“It was mentioned during Monday night’s council meeting that they had obtained a few more points,” Carlson said. “It looks optimistic this year.”

Malloy expressed similar comments, and said that the group had done things to increase its competitiveness.

The Ledger reached out to CBC Financial for comment but did not receive a call back by press time.